Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.” And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief. [Matthew 13:57-58 (NLT)]
Although Jesus performed many miracles, when compared to the illusions performed by various well-known magicians, they aren’t all that impressive. Jesus emerged from the tomb on the third day but David Blaine buried himself alive in a plexiglass coffin under a 3-ton water-filled tank for seven days and nights! Calling Lazarus out of the tomb after several days was impressive but only his family and some mourners were there to see it. When David Blaine emerged from the 6-ton block of ice in which he’d been encased for over 63 hours, thousands in Times Square were there and even more watched it on television. Granted, Blaine fell short of his 72-hour goal but the man knows how to draw crowds! Couldn’t Jesus have done something similar?
The disciples saw Jesus walk on water but magician Criss Angel did the same thing on national TV. Jesus appeared in a locked room after His resurrection but Criss Angel has passed through a glass window (without breaking it) and both a metal door and an iron gate. Jesus had Peter take a coin out of a fish’s mouth but David Blaine turned a cup of coffee into a cup of money. Feeding several thousand with a boy’s lunch pales in comparison to David Copperfield making the 225-ton Statue of Liberty disappear. Quietly transforming water into wine isn’t nearly as impressive as illusionist Cyril Takayama removing his head or David Copperfield making an airplane disappear.
Of course, the difference between Jesus and those magicians is that the men are mere illusionists and Jesus was God. Those magicians and their tricks only seem miraculous because we don’t understand how they’re done. Miracles done by Jesus had nothing to do with misdirection, deception, trickery, or sleight of hand. Without worldly explanation, they truly were supernatural. Nevertheless, wouldn’t Jesus have gathered more followers if He’d been more of a showman?
Couldn’t Jesus have done something more dramatic and remarkable in Nazareth than a few healings and a display of wisdom in the synagogue? People unimpressed by his background might have been awestruck if He’d made a camel disappear, pulled shekels from children’s ears, or cut a disciple in half. No matter how spectacular the miracles, however, the people’s skepticism would have blinded them to His message. The lack of belief in Nazareth didn’t mean Jesus couldn’t perform miracles; it simply meant He wouldn’t because there was no point. Some people are unwilling to believe no matter what they see.
The magician’s end purpose is to create illusions for money, fame, and entertainment—none of which were Jesus’ purpose. He performed miracles only out of compassion, to illustrate a lesson, or to establish his credentials as God. Frequently, He even asked people to say nothing about them. Miracles were a small part of His ministry because Jesus knew that miracles alone make a poor basis for faith.
Jerusalem was filled with people that Passover week some 2,000 years ago. Surely some of the populace there had been fed by Him, received his healing touch, or witnessed Him perform a miracle or two. If they hadn’t been eyewitnesses, many more had heard about His miracles. Nevertheless, on that Friday when Pilate asked if he should release Barabbas or Jesus “who is called Christ,” we don’t read of anyone in the crowd trying to drown out those who called for the release of Barabbas. They weren’t calling for Jesus because seeing was not enough to make them believe.
Men can see the greatest miracles and miss the glory of God. What generation was ever favored with miracles as Jesus’ generations was? Yet that generation crucified the Son of God! [Tom Wells]
I grew up in a church with hymn boards in the front of the sanctuary that displayed the liturgical church date and the day’s hymns. I loved seeing “First Sunday in Advent” because that meant there were only three more Sundays until Christmas. While “Lent” meant six weeks of no candy, “Palm Sunday,” with its promise of Easter (and Easter baskets) in just a week was always welcome. For most of the year, however, that sign was uninspiring. The weeks after Easter were simply noted as the first through the seventh Sundays of Easter until the arrival of Pentecost 50 days after Easter.
In one of those viral, supposedly true but probably not, inspirational stories, a wealthy man is said to bend over and pick up any and every coin he spots on the ground. When asked why he bothered to collect mere pennies, the man explained he didn’t pick up coins for their monetary value; he picked them up for the value of the message on them: “In God We Trust.” He believed the penny’s words to be God’s way of reminding him to trust the Lord rather than his wealth and considered every coin he found an opportunity to acknowledge his faith in prayer.
The wading birds of southwest Florida are absolutely beautiful, especially this time of year when they’re wearing their mating plumage. We’ve lived here eleven years and I still haven’t tired of their beauty as I encounter them daily in our ponds. 115 years ago, however, I would have been hard put to see any of these beautiful creatures anywhere. In the late 1800s, bird feathers became the fashion craze in women’s hats. Along with a plethora of plumes, some hats even featured an entire exotic bird! By 1900, more than five million birds were being killed every year and plume hunters had nearly wiped out the entire egret population. It wasn’t just the egrets with their white mating plumes—herons, roseate spoonbills, flamingoes, and peacocks were among the fifty North American species being killed for their plumage. No bird was safe.
Although crucifixion probably began with the Assyrians and Babylonians, the first historical record is of Persia’s King Darius I crucifying 3,000 political opponents in 519 BC. Alexander the Great adopted the practice when he crucified 2,000 survivors of the siege of Tyre in 332 BC. In 88 BC, the Hasmonean king of Judea, Alexander Jannaeus, crucified 800 Jewish rebels after killing the rebels’ wives and children in front of them. Following a massive slave revolt against Rome in 71 BC, 6,000 rebels were crucified along the Appian Way. The crosses stretched for miles and the bodies were left there as a clear message that any rebellion would end in a violent death. After the death of Herod the Great in 4 B.C., a failed rebellion in Judea led to the crucifixion of 2,000 rebellious Jews.
In less than five minutes the house was ready for Easter. I’d hung out the spring wreath with its silk tulips, placed the resin Easter rabbit with his cart and eggs on the hall table, and put the three ceramic bunnies around the flowers on the table. With no grands visiting this year, I didn’t even have eggs to boil or baskets to fill! Since it took me days to ready the house for Christmas, I wondered why Easter doesn’t get the same amount of decoration and celebration. Granted, most of the holiday traditions for both holy days have pagan beginnings. Nevertheless, those customs have become part of our culture and Christmas seems to overshadow Easter by a mile.
Devotions of the Heart 